Quick catch-up
Mar. 26th, 2026 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mificI've been quiet in terms of general journaling, mostly as I've been busy with projects. I've almost finished my SGA podfic for the podfic big bang, should be posting it in 2-3 days. Am now starting my first HR podfic, which will be interesting as I'm not going to be able to do Ilya's accent. But podficcers mostly don't attempt accents in podfics - except in HR, for Ilya, perhaps encouraged by Connor Storrie's virtuoso performance. A high bar.
I'm still reading lots of HR fanfic and not really interested in anything else, including profic. And writing. Have started my Hollanov big bang fic and have an AU WIP going as well. I can see that I'm going to lean pretty heavily towards writing AUs and fics that require bugger all knowledge of hockey, because I don't have any! But I'm writing, which feels really good.
It's early autumn here, a dry March until rain started yesterday, and now a much-needed soak. I should be tidying and mulching my garden beds, but my energy's mostly been directed to indoors creative stuff. Caught up with friends yesterday for a yummy Thai dinner, and it's hot cross bun time of year, so things have been excellent on the food front.
Not excellent at all elsewhere in the world, of course. I hope you're all okay and, for the northerners, enjoying spring. Hugs to you all.
I'm still reading lots of HR fanfic and not really interested in anything else, including profic. And writing. Have started my Hollanov big bang fic and have an AU WIP going as well. I can see that I'm going to lean pretty heavily towards writing AUs and fics that require bugger all knowledge of hockey, because I don't have any! But I'm writing, which feels really good.
It's early autumn here, a dry March until rain started yesterday, and now a much-needed soak. I should be tidying and mulching my garden beds, but my energy's mostly been directed to indoors creative stuff. Caught up with friends yesterday for a yummy Thai dinner, and it's hot cross bun time of year, so things have been excellent on the food front.
Not excellent at all elsewhere in the world, of course. I hope you're all okay and, for the northerners, enjoying spring. Hugs to you all.
An HR fic about Ilya and Irina
Mar. 26th, 2026 09:21 pmmificI wrote another HR fic, one I've been thinking about for a while, but it wanted to come out now. It's a therapy session with Galina, set a bit after the end of The Long Game, in which Ilya and Galina finally explore his tendency to idealize Irina. About 2100 words, background Shane/Ilya.
Sad and Funny and Beautiful
Sad and Funny and Beautiful
Birds singing oldies
Mar. 25th, 2026 07:50 pmstarwatcherDoes anyone know Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles? Probably not; it goes back to 1979. But I listen to the "Oldies" station on the car radio, or if I want music in the house, and I've heard it often enough that I recognize it.
The entrance to the chorus (?) is a female voice singing, "Oh, ah-oh!" (At about the 30-second mark on the video.)
So Monday evening, I was out cleaning pump filters for the pond and water tubs, and a bird was calling nearby. I swear, part of his call matched the "ah-oh" in cadence and note-interval. (My ear isn't good enough to know if it was the right notes, or just the right relationship between notes.) It was distinct enough, and recognizable enough, that it immediately reminded me of the song, and there I was, trying to sing it.
(Unfortunately -- or maybe fortunately? -- I know only four lines of the song, two of which are, "Video Killed the Radio Star." LOL!)
I wasn't able to get a visual sighting of the bird, but it wasn't one I recognize by call. We don't have that many varieties of birds around here, and I know most of the calls. (House finch, dove, mockingbird, grackle, meadowlark, quail are most common.) It could have been passing through, heading for more northern latitudes. I'll be alert for hearing it again, but it could well have been a one-time occurrence.
Nothing big, here. Just a possibly interesting snippet of outdoor life in rural New Mexico.
Sunshine!
Mar. 24th, 2026 08:12 pmmelaganToday we had the most sunshine than we've had in a month, possibly two. *happy dances*
Over the last three weeks, I got a ton of adulting done. And even fit a short trip to Cleveland to visit one of my fandom friends. She helped me come up with an excellent idea for First Touch, one of my soulmate prompts.
Meanwhile, I finished a third story for the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
5soulmates challenge. You can find it here:
Printed on Your Skin (4103 words)
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard
Additional Tags: Soulmates
Summary:
Touching your soulmate leaves fingerprints.
I have a bunch of fanfic to catch up on. This is not a hardship. :)
Over the last three weeks, I got a ton of adulting done. And even fit a short trip to Cleveland to visit one of my fandom friends. She helped me come up with an excellent idea for First Touch, one of my soulmate prompts.
Meanwhile, I finished a third story for the
5soulmates challenge. You can find it here:Printed on Your Skin (4103 words)
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard
Additional Tags: Soulmates
Summary:
Touching your soulmate leaves fingerprints.
I have a bunch of fanfic to catch up on. This is not a hardship. :)
Update to anti-ICE tracking app
Mar. 23rd, 2026 10:05 pmstarwatcherBased on comments under his first entry, the guy who developed the app has made some changes and improvements. He added a "warrant canary," and expanded the map -- it now can toggle between "within 25 miles" and "all sightings." He also adds some computery-type identification that people can verify.
So, if folks were hesitant to try it before, check out the new post. It might answer your questions and concerns.
And again, feel free to pass this link and/or info on wherever you think it might be useful.
Extremely cool HR vid
Mar. 23rd, 2026 09:47 pmmificThe hunter gets captured by the game by castxt
The song's a light, jazzy Blondie number about a hunter being captured by the game or prey they're stalking - the hunter being Ilya, pursuing Shane. Beautiful, tight editing, uses the whole song, and the ending is just gorgeous.
The song's a light, jazzy Blondie number about a hunter being captured by the game or prey they're stalking - the hunter being Ilya, pursuing Shane. Beautiful, tight editing, uses the whole song, and the ending is just gorgeous.
it is ALIVE
Mar. 23rd, 2026 12:18 amesteefeeThanks to squidgiepdx for the reminder to post that I exist. I was laid off back in early October of last year, which both sucked and was expected -- I was never going to obey the Return to Work directive because I'm disabled, but I was prepared to sue them if they just up and fired me because of it. As it turned out, though, they let go 15% of the company due to "strategic shifts to higher-margin areas such as custom AI chip design." lol. The severance package was really sweet, so I just went with it. I'm still scoring off their free insurance through the end of the month.
It feels weird to be coasting along while the world burns. I am protesting, writing letters, and donating where I can. I'm enjoying doing volunteer work at a food pantry and babysitting for my grand-niece: she just turned 7 months and she's painfully cute and mischievous; so alert and constantly needing enrichment because she despises being bored. She has my outsized big toe.
I'm struggling with my migraines in the heat, but back at pottery and crocheting.
Today, Rocket locked herself out of the apartment in the hallway for a couple of hours and I spent the rest of the day coddling her and giving her treats and snuggles.
Anyway, that's me. How's you? Please give me the goods.
squidgiepdx for the reminder to post that I exist. I was laid off back in early October of last year, which both sucked and was expected -- I was never going to obey the Return to Work directive because I'm disabled, but I was prepared to sue them if they just up and fired me because of it. As it turned out, though, they let go 15% of the company due to "strategic shifts to higher-margin areas such as custom AI chip design." lol. The severance package was really sweet, so I just went with it. I'm still scoring off their free insurance through the end of the month. It feels weird to be coasting along while the world burns. I am protesting, writing letters, and donating where I can. I'm enjoying doing volunteer work at a food pantry and babysitting for my grand-niece: she just turned 7 months and she's painfully cute and mischievous; so alert and constantly needing enrichment because she despises being bored. She has my outsized big toe.
I'm struggling with my migraines in the heat, but back at pottery and crocheting.
Today, Rocket locked herself out of the apartment in the hallway for a couple of hours and I spent the rest of the day coddling her and giving her treats and snuggles.
Anyway, that's me. How's you? Please give me the goods.
Anti-ICE tracking app
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:25 pmstarwatcherFrom this post in Daily Kos. "I built an ICE tracking app that can't be pulled from the App Store. Because it was never in one."
This person developed an app that tracks when ICE is present in the vicinity, and sends an alert to your phone. No cost. No ads. No presence in an app store for TPTB to pull it. Hosted in the Netherlands, so the US government can't issue a takedown order to the provider.
There's lots of discussion in the comments about "what if" and conversations about coding that I can't follow, but it might be reassuring to those on the fence... or maybe a red light. I don't know. But if you live in an area where ICE is -- or might be -- active, it's worth taking a look.
Forgot to say -- The developer wants news of this to spread as far as possible. So feel free to link to this post, or to the source post in DK, to share the information.
New Charlotte Stant HR fic out - run, don't walk!
Mar. 22nd, 2026 01:40 pmmificOMG Charlotte Stant's fic is SO FUCKING GOOD! Heaven is a Bedroom - Shane's a mormon missionary door-knocking with his fellow-elder Hayden and Ilya and Marley are roommates living in a house on their route. It's funny, incredibly hot, poignant and the most incredible complete AU, just wonderful writing. I want to have this fic's babies.
Amazing HR stories (massive rec for OpalApparition)
Mar. 21st, 2026 11:31 ammificApogee by OpalApparition - where Commander Shane Hollander and Flight Engineer Ilya Rozanov are stranded on the International Space Station and have to survive a solar storm. It's an amazing mix of hard science, detailed knowledge of the ISS, space program history, intense action/adventure, gripping drama, an incredibly repressed Shane, pining, jealous Ilya, incendiary sex in microgravity, and romance. The writing is extremely good - gripping, fluent, with great descriptive detail. It's the best complete AU in the fandom I've read so far. (50,348 words)
I'm very into everything by OpalApparition, especially Wolfbird - a regularly updating WIP featuring professional dom Ilya and extremely uptight hockey star Shane. Although the way they meet is a BDSM club, in fact the fic's largely not about that (although there are several extremely hot scenes). It's more about the two characters, as despite his in-control dom role at the club, Ilya's actually a complex mess, an illegal overstayer with a ruined knee after a disaster very early in his NHL career, and Shane is the profoundly repressed hockey-robot star he'd be if he'd never met Ilya as a teen. It's addictive, and, as above, beautifully written. (currently 170,925 words)
I'm very into everything by OpalApparition, especially Wolfbird - a regularly updating WIP featuring professional dom Ilya and extremely uptight hockey star Shane. Although the way they meet is a BDSM club, in fact the fic's largely not about that (although there are several extremely hot scenes). It's more about the two characters, as despite his in-control dom role at the club, Ilya's actually a complex mess, an illegal overstayer with a ruined knee after a disaster very early in his NHL career, and Shane is the profoundly repressed hockey-robot star he'd be if he'd never met Ilya as a teen. It's addictive, and, as above, beautifully written. (currently 170,925 words)
Friday Five
Mar. 20th, 2026 06:56 ammelagan1. What was the reason you began a Dreamwidth or LiveJournal account (or both)?
I was reading a lot of fanfic and following the writers on LJ. At one point I decided that if I wanted to leave a Thank You comment, I should join. I did. Eventually, I moved over to DW
2. How many DW or LJ communities do you subscribe to?
78. Most of them are inactive, but I can't quite bring myself to leave.
3. Do you have a favorite community or one you check out often to see what's new?
sga_saturday It's one of the few active communities associated with Stargate Atlantis and has a monthly prompt. I do check in on my reading circle (it will always be my flist to me) on a daily basis so if a community has posted (like thefridayfive) I'll see it.
4. How did you pick your user name?
As I recall, I'd had a long run of the user name you have chosen has already been used. I decided to take my first and last name and scramble the letters. And that is why my user name is what it is.
5. If you could change your user name, would you?
Maybe in the early days, but not now. I'm the same name too many places at this point.
From the community:
The following bonus questions are brought to you by the fact that I (anais_pf) have been unable to access any page of LiveJournal for more than a week (and therefore cannot post to The Friday Five there):
6. If you have a LiveJournal, are you currently able to access it?
Yes. (to my surprise)
7. Do you have any information about why one would be unable to access LiveJournal?
I had heard that they were planning to remove access to members outside of Russia. If that is about to be the case (and they'd probably hit communities first) maybe a vpn would help?
I was reading a lot of fanfic and following the writers on LJ. At one point I decided that if I wanted to leave a Thank You comment, I should join. I did. Eventually, I moved over to DW
2. How many DW or LJ communities do you subscribe to?
78. Most of them are inactive, but I can't quite bring myself to leave.
3. Do you have a favorite community or one you check out often to see what's new?
sga_saturday It's one of the few active communities associated with Stargate Atlantis and has a monthly prompt. I do check in on my reading circle (it will always be my flist to me) on a daily basis so if a community has posted (like thefridayfive) I'll see it.4. How did you pick your user name?
As I recall, I'd had a long run of the user name you have chosen has already been used. I decided to take my first and last name and scramble the letters. And that is why my user name is what it is.
5. If you could change your user name, would you?
Maybe in the early days, but not now. I'm the same name too many places at this point.
From the community:
The following bonus questions are brought to you by the fact that I (anais_pf) have been unable to access any page of LiveJournal for more than a week (and therefore cannot post to The Friday Five there):
6. If you have a LiveJournal, are you currently able to access it?
Yes. (to my surprise)
7. Do you have any information about why one would be unable to access LiveJournal?
I had heard that they were planning to remove access to members outside of Russia. If that is about to be the case (and they'd probably hit communities first) maybe a vpn would help?
March Day 7
Mar. 18th, 2026 10:17 amsgatazmyIt’s been good times in SGA fandom.
nottasha is posting Cold as Ice (gen, 4/8 chapters posted so far, prompt: F Ice)Sablecain posted Shake, Rattle, and Cold (gen, fully posted, prompt: F Ice)
I finished content betaing an amazing fic that I can’t wait to link here as soon as the author posts. Seriously, it’s sooooo good and the first part of a longer season six series!
I wrote a story with the content of making a short idea longer. So I wrote a 2000 word sickfic and added on until it became it’s own McShep feelings admission/first kiss story. Heard You Kissed
Fandom seems to have dramatically slowed with kudos and comments for all which is disappointing, but oh well. I am enjoying coming here on dreamwidth. It’s nice to have community and people to talk to/write with. I’m slowly growing my circle.
I’m at work but in my car. I don’t want to go in…. But I need to. Maybe I can find time to write. I really want to.